Hamburg - 8 Bornplatz (Rotherbaum Locality)

Summary: In the early 20th century, the center of Jewish life in Hamburg
moved from Neustadt to the Rotherbaum area, because walking
to the Orthodox synagogue in Neustadt had become difficult.
The Jewish prayer rooms in Rotherbaum were
unsatisfactory; therefore, a grand synagogue with 1,100
seats was consecrated in 1905. Built in a style that suggested
patriotic values, the synagogue included red sandstone,
yellowish roof tiles and Romanesque features. The white
marble Torah Ark, which rested on a black marble base, was
crowned with two Tablets of the Law. The building housed
conference rooms, a mikveh, a weekday synagogue and the
administrative offices. Bornplatz was Germany’s first freestanding
synagogue, and also its largest.
On Pogrom Night (November 1938), the Bornplatz
synagogue was set on fire and vandalized. Afterwards, the
congregation was forced to sell the property and pay for the
demolition of the building, even though the structure was
still intact. A bunker was later built on the premises.
The site now accommodates a large floor mosaic and
several memorial and informative plaques. The square has
been renamed Joseph Carlebach Platz, after the last acting
chief rabbi of Hamburg.

Photo: The Bornplatz synagogue in Hamburg, probably in the 1920s. Courtesy of: Photo Archive of the German Historical Museum.